Data Usage Revenue Jumps to Rs 54,671 Crore in 2018: Trai

Total revenue collected last year by telecom operators from wireless data usage at Rs 54,671.44 crore (excluding rental revenue) was up by Rs 15,789 crore as compared to Rs 38,882 crore in 2017, according to an analytics paper released by telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday.

The volume of average wireless data usage per wireless data subscriber per month has increased from 4.13 GB during the year 2017, to 7.69 GB during 2018, the report said.

The average cost to subscriber for one GB wireless data usage was Rs 11.78 during the year 2018, as compared to Rs 19.35 per GB during 2017.

The average cost to subscriber for wireless data was Rs 226 per GB during the year 2015.

Following the entry of a new player in wireless telecom with state-of-the art 4G technology in 2016, the average cost to subscriber for wireless data has steeply declined during 2017 and 2018 owing to intense tariff competition in the telecom sector.

The volume of total wireless data usage increased from 20,092 million GB during 2017 to 46,404 million GB in 2018, with a yearly growth of 131 per cent. The volume of total wireless data usage was 828 million GB during 2014.

The average revenue per wireless data user per month increased from Rs 79.98 in 2017 to Rs 90.61 during 2018. It was recorded at Rs 71.25 per wireless data subscriber per month in 2014, the report said.

Total number of wireless data subscribers increased from 424.02 million at the end of 2017 to 578.20 million at the end of 2018, with a yearly growth rate of 36.36 per cent. The number of wireless data subscribers were 281.58 million at the end of the year 2014.